LinkedIn's IPO performance raises fears of new bubble in US



Only two years removed from the financial crisis, could the US be inflating another bubble?

It is a distinct possibility, experts said yesterday as they digested the performance of LinkedIn's initial public offering.

LinkedIn's shares more than doubled in their public trading debut on Thursday, evoking memories of the investors' love affair with internet stocks during the dot.com boom of the late 1990s.

The professional social networking company, which began in one man's living room less than a decade ago, is now worth more than the motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson and the ratings company Moody's Investors Service.

Lawrence Summers, a former US Treasury secretary, said yesterday there was rising concern that technology stocks were in a bubble as investors shook off their apprehension from the 2007 to 2009 US mortgage and credit collapse.

"Who could have imagined that the concern with respect to any American financial asset, just two years after the crisis, would be a bubble?" Mr Summers, who has returned to being a Harvard University professor, said at a conference yesterday in Shanghai. "Yet that concern is increasingly raised with respect to American technology, with respect to certain other American assets. That is a reflection of the resumption of confidence."

The LinkedIn performance even caught bankers by surprise. Bankers typically try to price an IPO so that the stock rises about 15 per cent on the first day of trading: enough to reward investors who made a bet, but not so much that original shareholders feel were short-changed.

Only days ago, LinkedIn proposed a price range for the IPO that valued it at just over US$3 billion (Dh11.01bn). After its first day of trading, it was worth nearly $9bn, adding to concerns that the valuations of social networking companies were exceeding the businesses' earning potential.

"It seems to bring back memories of the tech bubble," said Jack Ablin, the chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. "Based on what I know, it seems like investors are a little overly enthusiastic."

Elsewhere, US farmland prices could also be in a bubble, Thomas Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said this year.

"Today there are very substantial risks, to be sure, but the economy is growing, unemployment is falling and financial conditions are normalised," said Mr Summers, who was director of the White House national economic council in the Obama administration from 2009 until last year.

Mr Summers said the "central irony" of a financial crisis was that it was caused by too much confidence, borrowing and lending, and was resolved by more confidence, borrowing and spending. He was Treasury chief from 1999 to 2001, a term that coincided with the collapse of technology shares. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 39 per cent in 2000.

* with agencies

Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

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If you go

The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.

The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.

Specs – Taycan 4S
Engine: Electric

Transmission: 2-speed auto

Power: 571bhp

Torque: 650Nm

Price: Dh431,800

Specs – Panamera
Engine: 3-litre V6 with 100kW electric motor

Transmission: 2-speed auto

Power: 455bhp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: from Dh431,800

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League last 16, second leg
Liverpool (0) v Atletico Madrid (1)
Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: Thursday, March 12, midnight
Live: On beIN Sports HD

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Starfield
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European arms

Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons.  Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The specs

  Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

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Sanju

Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani

Rating: 3.5 stars

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry

4/5

The specs

Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors

Power: 480kW

Torque: 850Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

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TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

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Thank You for Banking with Us

Director: Laila Abbas

Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum

Rating: 4/5